My First Cells

The first science your baby ever looks at.

In their first months, babies see best in high contrast, light against dark. My First Cells: DNA and Division gives those new eyes real cell biology to look at: how one cell becomes two, and the instructions written inside it. Every picture is based on the same biology you would find in a textbook, made bold and simple for a baby on a play mat.

The book comes in two parts. First, cell division: the eight stages of mitosis, one cell copying itself and splitting in two, the way a body grows and heals every single day. Then genes and inheritance, from the traits you got from your parents down to the nucleus, the chromosomes, DNA itself, and the proteins your cells build from it. Sixteen illustrations in all, each with a short note for the grown-up reading along.

High contrast black and white is what newborn eyes can actually resolve, so this works as a tummy time book from the first weeks, and as a first look at genetics long after.

What's inside:

• A first look at cell division, DNA, and genetics for babies 0 to 12 months
• 16 high-contrast black-and-white illustrations of cells, chromosomes, and DNA
• A short, calm note for the grown-up on every left-hand page
• Real science, made bold enough to hold a newborn's eye across a play mat

Written and illustrated by Leah Bury, a PhD cell biologist and science illustrator, who made this book to show her own children the science of the world inside them.

My First Cells is a high-contrast first science series for newborns, looking closer at the body one book at a time. This is Book 2. Book 1 is My First Cells: Inside the Cell.